THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



53 



Some Large Non-Venomous Snakes and 

 their Food. 



J. KOY KlNGHORN. 



It is well known that snakes can 

 swallow large animals, but a photo- 

 g-rapli of such an event is rare indeed, 

 and it is through the kindness of the 

 editor of the "North (Queensland Kegis- 

 ter," and the "World's News," and the 

 photogTapher, Mr. W. E. Stirling, that 

 I am able to reproduce the accompany- 

 ing illustration of a Queensland rock 

 python which had just made a meal of 

 a wallaliy- Mr. Stirling informed me 



hornet.'' Its weight was so much that 

 he was compelled to leave his rifle, am- 

 miuiition and several kangaroo skins 

 under a busli until morning, but even 

 then it was not without many rests 

 that he at last reached his destination, 

 where he placed the snake in position 

 and took a photograph with the result 

 shown in the illustration below. When 

 cut open its stomach was found to con- 

 tain a wallaliy (juite as large as a full 



fT^ 





North Queensland Python (Python amethystinus) after having swallov/ed a wallaby. 



Photo — \V. E. Stirlins. 



that while he was out shooting kanga- 

 roos in the rough country which forms 

 portion of Ranger's ^^alley Station, 

 Kymna, Queensland, he noticed the 

 head and neck of a snake i^rotruding 

 from a hollow among some large boul- 

 ders. He was using a powerful .44 

 Winchester at the time, and one shot 

 through the reptile's neck cjuickly de- 

 spatched it, after which he proceeded 

 to drag it out into the open, where he 

 found it to be distended to an enor- 

 mous size as the result of a loanf|uet. 

 Mr. Stirling quickly decided that a 

 photograph would be botli interesting 

 and necessary as a permanent record of 

 his find, and, as his camera was at camp 

 almost a mile away and the daylight 

 fading, he had to make a swag of his 

 prize and "take the mountain to Ma- 



grown sheep dog; it was squeezed into 

 a very compact mass and was quite 

 fresh, having evidently been eaten only 

 a day or so .previously. There were no 

 gases iDresent, and tlie bulge shown in 

 the picture was entirely filled by the 

 wallaby. When measured, the python 

 was found to be a little over 12 feet in 

 length, and I might add that, although 

 large, its size is by no means out of the 

 ordinary, as this species has been re-, 

 corded up to a length of nearly 20 feet, 

 while a cast in the Museum reptile gal- 

 lery measures 17 feet 2 inches. 



The question immediatelv arises as to 

 how snakes manage to swallow such 

 large animals, and the answer will be 

 found in the following lines. 



When a python catches its prey it 

 kills it bv sti'angulation or constrietiou. 



